Independent physicians for patient independence deny insurance and government limitations on patient care.

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Physicians’ view of OCC

Dear physician colleague,

You’ve probably heard about the additional time and expense to pursue maintenance of certification (MOC) / osteopathic continuous certification (OCC) beginning January 1, 2013. If you were lifetime certified prior to 1997, read on because eventually it will effect you for certification and your state medical license. MOC/OCC will take countless hours from your patient care, personal health and family time, as well as, more than $3000 direct cost for each certification period plus extra thousands more in indirect costs. Physicians and patients already suffering at the hands of insurance industry and government regulations, but now our own AMA or AOA and specialty board are adding to our burdens in response to government and industry pressure and profit.

In Ohio during 2012, the state licensure board attempted to enforce a MOC/OCC program for medical licensure, MOL. The Ohio state medical board tried to implement this time and money intensive program just to maintain physician’s medical licenses to practice in the state. This is why ALL physicians must be active in rejecting MOC/OCC as it has led to MOL. It was the active practicing physicians in Ohio that rejected participation in the program and caused the state of Ohio to cease the MOL program.

The time is now to send a letter to the AMA or AOA, and Appropriate specialty board to refuse participation in the MOC/OCC program. This goes for ALL physicians no matter what your board certification circumstance.

Please discontinue your maintenance of certification(MOC) program. I, and many other colleagues, will not participate. MOC is unnecessarily burdensome, costly in time and money to participate. Certification boards stand to make millions of dollars on MOC procedures, causing a conflict of interest with their membership. They spend hundreds of thousands on
lobbying efforts to help perpetuate their testing monopoly and also
what they pay their executives.

MOC is not statistically proven to improve patient care or outcomes. Actually, it takes countless hours away from patient care, our own health maintenance time and family time. MOC may be used by insurance industry to discriminate against participation or reimbursement. It may be used by hospitals and health systems to further discriminate against our staff privileges. MOC is leading to MOL – maintenance
of licensure trials in states. Physicians in Ohio refused MOL and the proposed trial was discontinued. I will not participate in the regulatory capture of the entire practice of medicine.